KDE 3.0 Release Plan Updated

loopkin noted that the dot is running a bit about the KDE 3 Release. Here's the release schedule, and as you can see, the upcoming weeks will be interesting. I guess I should figure out why my truetype fonts all broke on a recent update to debian unstable so that I can actually enjoy the new releases :)

Comments

True Type Fonts

[nick13]

...are working just fine for me with Debian unstable (my last dist-upgrade was last night).

I'm actually posting this from konqueror, which is displaying anti-aliased True Type Fonts quite nicely.

Niko

Re:Fonts

[free!arrow]

Xft fonts are broken with Qt 3 and certain combinations of XFree86... to solve this: remove the LD_BIND_NOW=true from in front of the kdeinit line in the file "startkde". There is a significant performance penalty though.

This is supposedly fixed in XFree86 4.2 but I am having problems getting it to work.

Integrate QT apps with KDE

[brinkster]

Also on the dot is this discussion which talks about a way to get QT only apps to look and act like native KDE apps.

Anti-aliasing definition

[Civil_Disobedient]

Anti-aliasing is the process of smoothing the hard, jagged edges of graphics. Graphics can mean images or fonts. Normally this is accomplished by taking the surrounding color values and blending them. In the case of a simple black line on a white background, the edges of the line would be interpolated as an intermediate shade of grey. This gives a softer visual effect that is generally more pleasing to the eye, though too much can render the graphic blurry.

This can best be seen on websites that use GIF images placed over tiled backgrounds. The edges are hard -- you can see exactly where one graphic ends and the other begins. With fonts, which are usually vector based, the problem arises with diagonal lines. For a computer to render a diagonal line on the screen, it makes several smaller lines that are slighly offset. The point where this offset occurs looks like a hard edge. In real-world printing this isn't a problem, because the physical properties of ink bleed edges together. But in the digital world, you need extra software to simulate this softening effect.

Re:kioslaves

[bshuttleworth]

Gnome VFS is similar (IANADeveloper, though - this is from reading too many mailinglists). The basic idea is that it allows anything which can be shoehorned into the task to be a "filesystem" when using the library.

From the gnome-vfs GNOME2 branch documentation:

GnomeVFS is a filesystem abstraction library allowing applications plugable transparent access to a variety of "real" filesystems, from WebDAV to digital cameras, to the local filesystem. It also contains a number of other convenient file utilities such as a comphrehensive MIME database / Application registry, and a copy engine. Use of GnomeVFS ensures that an application or component will be usable by Nautilus or other GnomeVFS applications for handling the display of data from various URIs, as well.

The idea goes slightly further too (if memory serves) - anything which can be treated as a tree with linking/unlinking a'la a filesystem can be hidden inside Gnome-VFS. I believe there were even mutterings about making the menu-system a part of this (with a menu:// URI)...

Broken TrueType fonts in new distro versions

[nomis80]

As a reply to the comment on broken TrueType fonts on new Debian versions, I'd like to say that this happens on many other distros. The new RedHat 7.2 exhibited the same lower TrueType rendering quality over 7.1 as the new Debian. This is due to three patents that Apple filed concerning interpretation of TrueType bytecodes that are used for hinting small size characters. The FreeType project introduced in a configuration header a directive to disable/enable the patented bytecode interpreter. It comes disabled by default. Turning it on and recompiling may be considered infringement of Apple's patents if you haven't licensed them.

Anyway, for those who can legally use it (ie. you don't live in the USA or have licensed Apple's patents), I've compiled FreeType with the patented bytecode interpreter enabled and made a RedHat 7.2 RPM which is available right here. This drastically improves the readability of antialiased fonts. Enjoy!

Re:Clipboard

[spitzak]

I have not checked it yet but I believe the new Qt is using the seperate Clipboard/Selection that KDE and some versions of Motif used. The problem is it does not really work so well with older programs.

There are two clipboards called "Clipboard" and "Selection". When you select a block of text it is immediately copied into "Selection". When you click with the middle mouse button it inserts the current contents of "Selection". When you cut/copy it with a command (such as Ctrl+C) it is copied to "Clipboard" but that is unchanged otherwise, and pasting commands (such as Ctrl+V) paste the contents of "Clipboard".

This avoids confusing Windows users and still allows the drag&drop power of the older X selection and middle mouse click.

However older applications did not know anything about "Clipboard". Instead both selecting text and copy commands changed the value of "Selection", and both middle mouse click and paste commands pasted the contents of "Selection".

The result is that if you have program "New" and program "Old":

Selecting text and pasting (dropping) it with the middle mouse button works both ways between the programs.

If you "copy" in the New program, the Old program will not see it. Attempts to paste will get the last selection (this often is the same as the copied text but not always), the same as using the middle mouse.

If you "copy" in the Old program, if you try to "Paste" in the New program you will not get it, instead you will get the last "copy" from a New program. You need to click the middle mouse button to "paste". This is by far the most annoying incompatability.

Hopefully the "old" programs will vanish over time. I am trying to do my part...